(Falls Church, VA) The Center for Equal Opportunity praised the Supreme Court’s decision today in Fisher v. University of Texas, overturning the court appeals ruling that had upheld the University of Texas’s use of racial preferences in university admissions. CEO had joined Pacific Legal Foundation in a series of amicus briefs in this litigation -- first in the U.S. Court of Appeals, then urging the Supreme Court to take the case, and then urging the Court to end racial preferences. Before that, it had also filed an administrative complaint against the University’s policy.

(Oklahoma City, OK) A study released earlier today by the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) documented evidence of racial discrimination in law, undergraduate, and medical school admissions at the University of Oklahoma. The study, which analyzes data obtained from the University itself, found that African Americans were admitted to all three schools with lower academic qualifications than students from other racial and ethnic groups. There was some evidence of preferential treatment for American Indian applicants as well.

The University responded today in a statement, expressing disappointment that CEO did not allow the school to participate in the study and dismissing the strong evidence of racial discrimination our findings show. The school implies in its statement that African Americans make up for gaps in test scores and grades with stronger “writing ability,” “volunteerism,” and “work experience” than their Asian and white counterparts.

CEO president Roger Clegg responded: “As an independent organization doing an independent study, we analyzed data from the university and of course did not work with the University to prepare our study. The University did not challenge the data nor does it point out any errors in our analysis of it. The university’s statement and the various statements on its website fall short of saying admissions decisions are made on a race-blind basis.” Clegg continued, “Furthermore, the University says that it is following and will continue to follow federal Supreme Court decisions in this area, however, the Supreme Court’s case law in this area is relevant only if the University is using racial preferences. “

CEO chairman Linda Chavez added: “The university’s references to soft variables such as interviews and volunteerism are unpersuasive, since it is extremely unlikely that these variables would favor African American and American Indian applicants over white, Asian, and other applicants at such an overwhelming degree that they would explain the statistical patterns that our study documents (such as the gaps in standardized test scores and GPA).”

The study was written by Dr. Althea Nagai, a research fellow at CEO. It is available on CEO’s website, www.ceousa.org. The Oklahoma Association of Scholars helped CEO obtain the data. CEO has published similar studies of racial and ethnic discrimination in admissions to dozens of universities since it was founded in 1995.

The Center for Equal Opportunity is a nonprofit research and educational organization that studies issues related to civil rights, bilingual education, and immigration and assimilation nationwide.

(Falls Church, VA) The Center for Equal Opportunity praised the Supreme Court’s decision today striking down as unconstitutional the coverage formula of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. CEO had filed amicus briefs at both the petition stage and on the merits, urging this result. In addition, CEO chairman Linda Chavez and its president and general counsel Roger Clegg had testified against re-enacting Section 5 when it was before Congress in 2006.

(Lincoln, Nebraska) A new study released today by the Center for Equal Opportunity documents evidence of severe discrimination based on race and ethnicity in law school admissions at the University of Nebraska. African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latinos are admitted with significantly lower undergraduate grade-point averages and LSAT scores than whites and, again to a lesser extent, Asians.

The study is based on data supplied by the University itself. The study was prepared by Dr. Althea Nagai, a resident fellow at CEO, and can be viewed on the organization’s website, www.ceousa.org. The executive summary of the study is attached.

CEO president Roger Clegg will answer questions about the study when it is formally released at a press conference today at 10:30 a.m. in Lincoln at the University of Nebraska (Nebraska City Campus Union, Pewter Room).

CEO chairman Linda Chavez noted that the odds ratio favoring African Americans over whites was 442 to 1. She pointed out, “During the two years studied (the entering classes of 2006 and 2007), 389 whites were rejected by the law school despite higher LSATs and undergraduate GPAs than the average black admittee. Racial discrimination in university admissions is always appalling. But the extremely heavy weight given to race by the University of Nebraska College of Law is off the charts.”

Roger Clegg stressed that not only was race weighed, but it was weighed much more heavily than residency status: “For instance, a white resident of Nebraska in 2007 was more than twenty times less likely to be admitted than an African American applicant from out of state.”

CEO also analyzed undergraduate admissions, but did not find statistical evidence of discrimination there, based on the data provided by the University. The University’s medical school refused to supply similar data jointly requested by CEO and the Nebraska Association of Scholars.